It is going to be hard to beat the vapor proof bags that Don ships the leaf in for long term storage. He sells the bags individually in several sizes, up to ten lb. bags. I use wooden clothes pins to seal the bags after folding over a few times.
Canning pipe tobacco for long term storage
- Thread starter Desertpipe
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ArizonaDave
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I'd have to agree on this!
I do remember reading the comments about the bags. I just put my first order in this morning so I will see them for myself next week. My point was that there are bags out there that you can pull a vacuum on for whatever reason you want. I don't see them as being particularly useful for tobacco storage because, as I understand it, you really don't want a hard vacuum. It was more of a FYI comment. I suppose the could be useful for short term pressing but IDK.
Grumpa
The bags come heat sealed and I guess you could pull a vacuum on them with the food saver, but the bag would keep getting shorter every time you cut the top. I like to reuse mine for home grown so I don't use a heat seal, just clothes pins. If the leaf gets dry, which takes awhile, I just spritz with a spray bottle of water and seal them back with the clothes pins.
Not too sure about this. I guess you would have to define "long term storage" A lot of the hard core pipe smokers store their tobacco away with the intent of not opening it for at least 5 to 10 years. I do not think the vapor proof bags would hold up for 10 years. I think they will slowly vent through the pores of the "plastic". The tobacco might even pick up a plastic taste to it after many years of storage. The mason jars on the other hand will last for decades if properly sealed. But this brings up another question: Do you want to store your tobacco with air in it to slowly ferment/age or do you want it to age in an oxygen deprived (vacuum) environment? I do not know which is best but I store my tobacco in mason jars that have not been vacuum sealed. Interesting though that a lot of the European tobacco tins are vacuumed tins while most of the American ones are not. I guess here's the next big experiment for someone (not me) to do. Pack some mason jars with tobacco. Vacuum some and leave the others with some air in them.... report back here in 10 years
jolly
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I've done this. I bought a ton of dunhill tins in 2005 not realizing that they'd changed their contract and the blends were now being made in (gasp) Denmark. After finding that my beloved 965 and Nightcap weren't the same, I put the contents of the open tins in jars (not vacuum sealed) and left the closed tins with them. Last year I finally finished those two original tins and, wondering about this myself, after smoking the last bowl of each I immediately opened another vacuum sealed tin and fired it up. They were a bit different, though only on a very subtle level. The latakia was a little flatter on the jared versions. Both seemed slightly sweeter, and the orientals were less sharp. I cant say that I preferred one over the other. The dunhill example has the largest gap between purchase and opening, but i routinely perform this experiment with tobaccos that are 3-4 years old. Differences are minimal.
BTW, I'm also using quart jars to store whole leaf tobacco in medium case. While this method of storage doesn't allow you to really pack in the leaf, it works and allows for the tobacco to age while still providing me the versatility of using it in any way I see fit. The stuff I put down in 2011/12 smells awesome.
It seams that it doesn't matter whether you store your tobacco with air or try to vacuum seal. The aging process appears to be enzymatic in nature so the most important thing you can do is store your tobacco slightly (very slightly) moist.
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